KARACHI: With relative calm on security issues in Karachi, real estate dealers in upscale areas of the city are hopeful that the city will see more housing projects in near future.

“Bahria Town wants to bring more projects in Karachi especially shopping malls. Our aim is to bring strong international brands of different products that are not in Pakistan,” Bahria Town Director Zain Malik said on Thursday.

He said this in a seminar organised by Defence and Clifton Association of Real Estate Agents (DCAREA) – an association whose members deal in property in Karachi – to discuss current trends in real estate business of the city.

Other speakers of Bahria Town said that they feel they have a huge responsibility after getting an encouraging response for their recently launched projects in Karachi.

Leading real estate agents speaking to the seminar said that the launch of recent projects targeting high-end markets, especially the projects of Bahria Town, have raised competition level among leading real estate managers and developers.

General Secretary DCAREA, Nasir Jamal, said that the shortage of housing units in Karachi has worsened in last 20-25 years due to a deteriorating law and order of the city.

Jamal said that the response that Bahria Town projects have received in Karachi has been exceptional and it may certainly encourage more investors to come to Karachi and invest in the housing industry of the city.

Other speakers said that Karachi has a huge backlog of housing projects that is growing continuously because of growing population, especially owing to migration, and low pace of investments in housing and construction.

According to rough estimates, Karachi has a backlog of at least 1.3 million houses.